Last week saw CPC based pricing being added to Facebook’s advertising offering. With such low CTRs across social networks, this is a great boon for conversion-minded advertisers.

I joined several other affiliates by jumping on the program as soon as it became available. Whilst the interface and functionality is primitive, the available targeting options are pretty interesting. I kicked off by promoting DVDs though Amazon’s Associates program. As an example, I was able to target: 18-30 year old, employed, American men, who list 24 as one of their favourite TV programmes and send them to the 24 DVD box-set on Amazon.com.

Whilst the ads were contextually relevant, the CTR was shockingly low. Perhaps if they’re such big fans, they might already have the DVD. The conversion rate, on the other hand, was fantastic – clocking in at around 20%.

DVD campaigns didn’t reap much profit, so I’ve now shifted to the more classic products affiliates peddle. Credit cards and dating might prove more successful. ‘20-30, single, and female? Then check out our dating service’.

Given the restrictive $50 daily budget, it’s unclear if Facebook wish to support commercial/affiliate advertising, or if they’d prefer the service to be exclusively used for low key classified (’flyer’) advertising. In fact, some users are reporting their accounts being terminated for over aggressive usage.

Update: Check out this article on how one guy went all out to fully exploit the opportunity with Facebook.